A new app called Realfriends.me

The role of social media in everyday relationships has never been greater. Major social apps play an important role in the establishment of 'friendships' (76% of teens across the U.S. use social media), yet numerous studies show that relationships established through social media are largely unauthentic, foster illusions of real community, and create false senses of intimacy.

We totally agree!

Well, a new social app aims to counter all that. realfriends.me has announced the launch of their brand-new social media app where users can have up to 25 realfriends, a new, comprehensive realfriend-centered app, redefining the meaning of realfriends through social media worldwide. They say, by limiting friends people can have via the app, realfriends encourages users to share their most intimate moments and thoughts with their closest friends. Built from the ground up as an alternative to the constant and massive, non-personal interactions that occur on other social apps, realfriends gives users the opportunity to focus only on relationships that matter to them, in an environment that doesn't pressure users to befriend as many people as possible. While many social media platforms are more concerned with the quantity of friends people have, realfriends is committed to helping people have a quality social media experience by limiting their friend list to their realfriends.

“With realfriends, it’s all about quality over quantity when it comes to building and maintaining relationships. Friendships are important, but when you have hundreds or thousands of connections and only a handful of them are of any true value to you, what happens to the word friendship? It becomes diluted, devalued, and ultimately inexistent. With the expansion and growth of major social media platforms, the personal, intimate aspect and friendship interaction has diminished significantly. We believe that having hundreds or thousands of virtual friends, most of whom you have never met is an illusion and not real friendship. We find ourselves inundated with posts by people we barely know. This leads to an intimidation factor that prevents us from truly expressing our thoughts, beliefs, and sharing our personal daily activities, realfriends turns that all around.

— Founder, Raphael A

realfriends users can share thoughts, photos, videos, status updates, and much more in an environment that is safe, easy to use and transparent. Each user's shares will only be viewable by their close group of friends, and will be completely private from outside viewers. By capping the friend limit at 25, users will find themselves more acquainted with the close people who really matter.

"There is an important difference between online and real friends," said Raphael. "Online friendships, though they may make us feel popular, don't carry the emotional support real friendships do. Our app is bringing sincerity and intimacy back into today's friendships."

They are available for iOS; iPhone and iPads and for Android.

We would love feedback on what you think about this new app. And, do you think you can limit your friend list to just 25? Comment below.